H. A. Rey – Satirist or Subversive?

It’s all about context.

Taken at face value, Zebrology (1937) and How the Flying Fishes Came Into Being (1938) by H. A. Rey, are both charming but frivolous children’s cartoons in 8 panels. This is reinforced by the publisher, Chatto & Windus, in its 1939 Autumn catalogue describing Rey as a “juvenile artist and writer”. As a side note, many of his numerous children’s stories remain in print to this day.

At odds with this is the short description, in the same catalogue, where the publisher referred to the two publications as “sophisticated, and mainly intended for the adult”.

To make sense of this one must take into consideration world events, particularly European, in the 1930s. Rey was a German Jew living in Brazil and his wife to be, Margret, moved there in 1935 to escape the rise of Nazism in Germany. They married in 1935.

Race Defilement

In September 1935 Germany passed the Nuremberg Race Laws prohibiting marriage and sexual relations between Jews and Non-Jews. This was later extended to Blacks and Roma, amongst others. Fundamental to the racial theories underpinning Nazi ideology was the Nazi commitment to prevent “race defilement”.

The couple visited family in Germany from April 1936 to February 1937. The last image in Zebrology is signed by Rey and dated 1936 – presumably drawn while he was visiting in Germany.

In this context, the satirical or subversive (and adult) nature of the stories is more easily appreciated. Zebrology starts out with a White female horse being courted by a Black male horse. This leads to “degeneration” into half-Black and half-White creatures. Ultimately resulting in the disappearance of White or Black horses leaving only black and white striped zebras – a miscegenation offensive to Nazi sensibilities.

Flying Fishes has the same theme and a slightly more explicit tone with a panel showing a bird and a fish on very friendly terms and then the following panel has a discreet night scene where neither are present but the moon is looking down and smiling. The next picture shows a nest full of flying fishes, half fish/half bird creatures, being fed by the parents.

Racial Hierarchy

In addition to racial purity, Nazi ideology relied on a hierarchy with the Nordic race at the apex and inferior races (and even worse, animals) to be subservient.

Rey’s drawings featured in two other editions of The Courier Magazine in its Satire section under the title, The Beast Bites Back. The drawings embody a mockery of this hierarchy as can be seen below. These creatures clearly do not know their place in the prescribed hierarchy.

As to the question: Satirist or Subversive? Perhaps the answer is Rey is both a satirist and a subversive.